Pickup advice for strat

[Pat]

I'm putting together a warmoth custom strat and getting confused with all the pickup choices.

It's got a chambered mahogany body (so hollow ish) Koa top HSS set up and one piece macassar ebony neck. I went for mahogany over more classic strat woods simply because I love the sound of my PRS custom (or Loved I should  say, just had it stolen)

I play blues/grunge/rock

Any ideas what sets would best suit this set up?
I was thinking maybe VH II humbucker & 2 Irish Tour

Thanks in advance

Pat
 

[Mr. Air]

I defenitely think you should go with Irish Tours for middle and neck. In the bridge I think VHII will work well, but you might also considder the Abraxas which is very versatile.

[Pat]

Ok thanks for the advice I think I'll stick with the irish tour and VHII since it's one of BKP's recommended combos. Unless anyone else has any other advice/alternatives?

[Mr. Air]

I don't think you need to be too affraid of blending HSS-sets that the Bare Knuckle company doesn't list. Some of the humbuckers, like the Abraxas, aren't mentioned in the HSS section, but that doesn't mean they're not suited to match any of the pickups from the single coil lineup.

[Telerocker]

Hi Pat, welcome on board!

A Mule and two Mother's Milk would be a nice and versatile combo in a mahogany strat too. The Mule-bridge is a bit underestimated, but is the most balanced, full, deep and crisp (but not sharp) BKP-humbucker I own. It does everything from pristine cleans to hardrock and even metal with the right amp. I have Mules in an all mahogany Saint Blues and they provide genuine PAF59-tones, but better then any PAF59-replica I heard.

The VHII works well too. I paired it with Mother's Milk in my ash Fender American Series HSS-strat and it's a very good, touchsensitive rockpickup. Really screams when you dig in. I would prefer Mules for blues(rock) though.

My swampash customstrat has a Crawler and IT's. The Crawler in mahogany could be a little too warm and middy, I would go no further then the Abraxas if you need some extra output and a tad more mids.

The IT's are definitely great allround stratpickups. Fuller and grittier but less woody and glassy then MM's, but you can get in Mother's Milk-territory by turning the guitars volumeknob a tad back.